Jalen Hurts has had an incredible year and half, earning All-Pro honors, MVP runner-up, while leading Philadelphia to the Super Bowl.
Off the field, Hurts has appeared in a short-film, signed a Jordan Brand deal, and now he’s landed the coveted cover for Sports Illustrated’s NFL preview.
Greg Bishop went in-depth with Hurts to discuss his upbring, competitive drive and plans for returning the Eagles to the Super Bowl.
Social media reacts to everything, and Hurts landing the cover shut-down Twitter/X.
Adam Schefter
Jalen Hurts on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Football Preview issue: pic.twitter.com/kRMygwz7nG
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 21, 2023
Takeaway
Hurts plans his day and his life down to the single-minute, and that’s likely a huge reason for his success on and off the field.
While returning to Oklahoma to earn and graduate with a Master’s Degree, Bishop broke down the All-Pro’s approach.
Few superstars decide to finish their educational pursuits while acclimating to the NFL. Fewer still are quarterbacks on the cusp of careers that now project far beyond the wildest of pre-draft expectations. Even fewer obtain master’s degrees, as Hurts did. Fewer still return to a stopover where they spent just one season. But Hurts is here. Of course he’s here, because in his hand he holds a cellphone, and on that cellphone is an itinerary—every meeting, break, speech, meal and ceremony, scheduled to the minute.
Oklahoma Football
A winner on and off the field. @JalenHurts graces the cover of SI's 2023 NFL preview ⤵️ https://t.co/FoZQ5yPLhX | #OUDNA https://t.co/Qtisw8jMrd pic.twitter.com/5Q8EtfMVwZ
— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) August 21, 2023
Takeaway
Hurts played a spectacular game, and he’s reached another level as a quarterback, but he’s going to carry that fumble on his shoulders until he returns and wins a Lombardi Trophy.
Hurts moves with intent. Eats with intent. Reads, watches and consumes with intent. Last February after Super Bowl LVII, Hurts stood before his Philly teammates inside their locker room. He had thrown for 304 yards and scored four touchdowns but insisted they blame him for their loss to the Chiefs. What??? Hurts made one obvious, critical mistake: a second-quarter fumble that K.C. linebacker Nick Bolton scooped up and returned for a score. The truth missing from Hurts’s message didn’t matter. Intention did.
Tony S
Yeah, that's right, baby… #FlyEaglesFly ! #Eagles #Philadelphia #Philly #PhiladelphiaEagles #JalenHurts #SI #NFL pic.twitter.com/MyN1QmMkiX
— Tony S. 🖖 Endure and Survive (@Seven_Soldiers) August 20, 2023
Takeaway
Hurts empowers the women in his life and he’s a huge reason for Agent, Nicole Lynn ascending to the top of Klutch Sports after departing Young Money Sports.
Graduation day unspools with two powerful female influences by Hurts’s side. He has a lot of those. One is his girlfriend, Bry Burrows, who met Hurts at Alabama. The other: Nicole Lynn, an Oklahoma alum turned lawyer-agent–power broker, the president of football at Klutch Sports Group. All climb the stairs toward the Sooners coaches’ offices, stopping to pause at the rich history (Sports Illustrated covers, trophies, framed jerseys) hanging from the walls.
Lynn never expected to represent Hurts, let alone for him to respond to a you-don’t-know-me-but Instagram message she Hail Mary’d his way before the 2020 NFL draft. She hit send inside a Florida hotel room, while at a bowl game hoping to sign another prospect but too sick to climb out of bed. Hurts did respond, that day, his message purposeful, direct. “Call my dad.”
Takeaway
Hurts is going to run a corporation one day, as he moves with precision, sound thoughts and the ability to be patient under fire.
Hurts chose to minimize his role in negotiations, providing Lynn with detailed, Hurts-ian instructions. During his conversation with Eagles GM Howie Roseman after the season, Hurts stuck to football topics. The extension came up only when Roseman noted its perch atop his offseason priority list. “O.K., sounds great,” Hurts responded. He wanted to be “paid what I’m worth,” he told Lynn, but not so much as to hobble Roseman’s ability to build a championship- caliber roster around him. In the months that followed, Hurts never asked his agent or GM for an update. Lynn provided only one, when the agreement was imminent.
Instead, the build continued. After setting career highs in completions, accuracy, passing yards, touchdowns and most advanced metrics, and finishing second in MVP voting, he wanted but one thing—more. He doubled workout sessions, visited coaches in California and continued to rehab a December shoulder injury.
Takeaway
Jeffrey Lurie was moving on from Carson Wentz regardless once Hurts was the second round pick.
He didn’t know their thinking then. Both Roseman and Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie viewed Hurts’s response to his benching at Alabama as a key to his potential. Roseman looked at the best quarterbacks in pro football—Brady, Rodgers, Mahomes, Prescott. Hadn’t all met seemingly insurmountable obstacles? Didn’t it matter how they surmounted them? Hadn’t Hurts done so better than any of them in college? After deciding to select Russell Wilson in the third round of the 2012 draft, only for Seattle to nab him 13 spots before they picked, Roseman says he planned, all along, to take Hurts in the second. “We were obsessed with Jalen,” Lurie says.
Josh Sweat Truther
Jalen Hurts on the front cover of the new Sports Illustrated.
And just look at the fit he’s rocking..
You really cannot tell me there is a more fly QB out there than Jalen Hurts currently. pic.twitter.com/6nUXL7EMF4
— Josh Sweat Truther (@EaglesBurna) August 21, 2023
Takeaway
All that stuff about Hurts not being a natural thrower was a lie, with his mechanics simply needing refinement.
Hurts trained at 3DQB before last season, while Roseman rebuilt the team around him. Dedeaux noticed something immediately: Hurts could throw. He arrived with a skill set that needed tweaks and refinement, but not a mechanical overhaul. If anything, he was too robotic, restricting his natural gifts. They focused on fluidity, making Hurts 2.0 a more creative and improvisational QB who at times reminded Dedeaux of Aaron Rodgers. He invited Hurts to the beach and for barbecues in his backyard, and encouraged casual games of catch. Hurts awed Dedeaux in those settings. “Apply that,” Dedeaux told him.
Takeaway
Hurts missed two games with a shoulder injury, but it appears that the injury was worse than many knew, with the quarterback stating he broke his collarbone.
“Stay down,” he said. You’re hurt.”
Mailata wasn’t wrong. But Hurts ignored the pain rocketing through his throwing shoulder. While staring up with trademark urgency, he shouted, “Get me the f—up!”
Hurts stayed in and completed a short pass before walking slowly to the sideline and announcing, “My S—’s broke.”
“Can you be more descriptive?” Rath asked, attempting to lighten the apocalyptic mood.
Hurts pointed to the organization’s most valuable joint. “My shoulder,” he said. “I felt it. I just broke my collarbone again.” Hurts had done that at Alabama. He couldn’t throw at all afterward, and now the pain felt sharper. The training staff huddled around, but Hurts waved them off.
